Wout Weghorst was never going to be a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, but the logic behind signing him in the January transfer window is being questioned with every game.
Weghorst was signed on loan from Burnley for the remainder of the season for two main reasons: he was a cheap option and Erik ten Hag believed he could offer something to the side. It is now looking like the Manchester United manager was wrong and his signing was a mistake – albeit a cost-effective one.
The Dutchman has now made 27 appearances for the club in all competitions and has just two goals and two assists to show for it. Those are statistics more befitting of an attacking full-back or a central midfielder, not a striker.
United fans have frequently tried to argue that Weghorst is not about goals. The argument goes that he offers the side a much-needed focal point, that he can hold up the ball and bring others into play.
That sounds like a theory that has a kernel of truth to it. But with the benefit of a decent sample size we now know it to be false. Weghorst hasn’t scored enough goals and he also hasn’t turned out to be very good at the rest of the things forwards are supposed to do.
After realising his profligacy in front of goal – and it really was hard to miss – Ten Hag has taken to fielding the 30-year-old in a more withdrawn role in his 4-2-3-1 system. That has simply compounded things, throwing the whole system out of sync and actively sabotaging the side’s dynamic.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of Wout Weghorst's performances for Manchester United? Comment below.
Following the 1-0 defeat at West Ham on Sunday – in which Weghorst played 57 ineffectual minutes before being withdrawn for Anthony Martial – Rio Ferdinand summed up the issue nicely. "I just think Man Utd’s No.10, a top team's No.10 doesn’t look like a Weghorst in my eyes,” he said.
"Let’s look at it another way, if I’m [Jadon] Sancho, Bruno [Fernandes], [Alejandro] Garnacho, Martial and I’m sitting there watching him line-up as a no.10 in front of me, the no.10 shirt means something else, it’s a player that can create, has got guile, can get between the lines and get on the half turn and bring other people into play in that sense and get goals.
"He doesn’t offer all those things I’ve just said there... I think his best piece of play today was a tackle in his own box. That’s a no.10 – that’s not what no.10s are known for doing."
United don’t have a wealth of attacking options, but shunting Fernandes to the right-hand side and playing Rashford up front in his non-preferred role is not helping things.
Weghorst does not have a massive ego like Ronaldo, so he is not causing a problem in the dressing room. But he is undoubtedly causing a problem on the pitch through his below-par performances.
United have now lost two Premier League games in a row and are in danger of surrendering their place in the top four, with Liverpool flying after six straight wins. They have four vitally important league games left, against Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham, before the FA Cup final against Manchester City.
If they want to make sure of a top-four place and end the season with a second piece of silverware then Weghorst needs to be dropped to the bench.
